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Clear (Unix)

is a computer operating system command which is used to bring the command line on top of the computer terminal. It is available in various Unix shells on Unix and Unix-like operating systems as well as on other systems such as KolibriOS.

Depending on the system, <code>clear</code> uses the terminfo or termcap database, as well as looking into the environment for the terminal type in order to deduce how to clear the screen. The Unix command <code>clear</code> takes no arguments and is roughly analogous to the command <code>cls</code> on a number of other operating systems.

ISO standard 9995-7 specifies that the following symbol be used to indicate this function on a keyboard, which is included in Unicode as: ⎚ CLEAR SCREEN SYMBOL.

One may use the <code>reset</code> command to erase every previous command.

History

The <code>clear</code> command appeared in 2.79BSD on February 24, 1979. Later, in 1985, the command was also included in Unix 8th edition.

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